The relationship between uterine corpus inclination and the outcomes of
in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer: a retrospective study
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the impact of the uterine corpus inclination
on pregnancy outcomes in in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer
(IVF-ET). Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: University-based
reproductive medicine center. Population: 526 patients underwent their
first frozen embryo transfer (FET) cycle. Methods: All patients
underwent transvaginal ultrasound examination to measure the distance
from the midline of uterine cavity to the ultrasound probe, which
indirectly reflect the uterine corpus inclination. The uterine corpus
tends toward the horizontal position as the average distance increases.
Multivariable regression analysis was used to study the effect of the
uterine corpus inclination on pregnancy outcomes, even in different
embryo stage cohorts as subgroup analysis. Main outcomes measures:
Clinical pregnancy rate (CPR), spontaneous abortion rate, and live birth
rate (LBR). Results:The patients were grouped according to the quartiles
of the average distance distribution (Group 1, ≤ 1.98 cm; Group 2,
1.99-2.19 cm; Group 3, 2.20-2.50 cm; Group 4, ≥ 2.51 cm). There were
statistically significant differences in the CPR and LBR between Groups
1 and 4 in the cleavage-stage ET cohort (CPR: adjusted odds ratio
[OR] 0.225, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.068-0.774; LBR:
adjusted OR 0.315, 95% CI 0.100-0.996) (P < 0.05). There were
no significant differences among the four groups in pregnancy outcomes
in the blastocyst transfer cohort (P > 0.05). The cut-off
value of 2.146 cm was calculated to predict the pregnancy outcomes in
the cleavage-stage ET cohort. Conclusion:The uterine corpus inclination
might be an independent risk factor for the success of cleavage-stage ET